Get Ready for 2009 Ride of Silence

If you only make it out to one organized bike ride this year, this is the one to do. Mentioned last week as well, the Ride of Silence is an international event, held in cities all over the world. There's no registration, no fee, no t-shirt, just a slow, silent, funeral-like procession throughout Columbus.

The purpose is to honor the memories of cyclists who've fallen throughout the year, cyclists whose only crime was to ride their bikes (and in the case of this year, trikes), and to remind motorists that we're here, we're riding, and we have rights.

In Columbus, we'll be riding to remember 2009's victims of motorist excess:

And of course, let's not forget about Michael Sonney and Andres Gonzales, who were also honored in the 2008 ride, and Andrew Starinchak, who has been honored every year of the Columbus ride after his death in 1998.

If I've missed anyone, please let me know and I will add them.

If you'd like to see pictures and a report from last year's ride, click here!

Comments

Elaine and Andy Starinchak will also be at the Ohio Statehouse for the 2009 Ride of Silence in honor of their son, Andrew Starinchak, who was killed by a motorist while cycling on Central College Road on August 1, 1998.

The route basically starts at the state house, goes north on High then east on Long. Just before I-71 it cuts back south to Broad and back to High. From there it goes north to Lane Ave. They used to go further north but the construction on High makes that a bad option. Right on Lane, then right on Summit. Take Summit down to 1st Ave, then back to High Street. And from there it's more or less back to City Hall's parking lot, via Gay Street.

Tracey Corbin was killed by a man in a Pontiac who "did not see him", not by a semi.....Tracey is in an unmarked grave in Glen Rest, or at least it was unmarked the last time I stopped to pay my respects....

The Dispatch report that Columbus Rides Bikes shared on Facebook today is entitled "More crashes come with more bicycle traffic on dedicated lanes," and discusses the new lanes and the number of accidents that have happened there. None of these accidents/crashes has been fatal.

So... you can read the article and get the statistics. Here's a summary of them, though, with a quote from the article:
...the number of crashes has jumped. Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue.…

In a move that has left quite a few people stranded in Columbus, the ride-sharing company Car2Go has announced today that they're pulling out of the local market as of May 31.

car2go is saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to suspend our operations in Columbus as of May 31. Read why here: https://t.co/gRSibUhotB
— car2go Columbus (@car2goColumbus) May 24, 2018
This has got me more than a little pissed off and very inconvenienced.

There's no doubt - Car2Go improved the quality of my family's life for the past few years while they were active in town. As a one-car family where I rode my bike and took the bus most days, Car2Go filled in the gap nicely when we needed that extra set of wheels to get ourselves places.

Here's the news they sent out via their website today:

HELLO,
We’re writing to let you know that after careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue car2go service in Columbus, effective May 31, 2018.
In 201…

I've been out with the flu for a few days (no, I'm not oinking), and I missed this surprising post from Jeff Stephens of Consider Biking back on October 9th. Suffice to say that Jeff took some time to sit back and watch the behavior of our city's cyclists, and was dismayed at what he saw. I'm in complete agreement with Jeff on this issue. Simply too many Columbus cyclists do not obey the law. But let's look at the reasons that Jeff proposed in his commentary: Why are you riding this way? Are you so self-absorbed, that the world revolves around you? Are you just opportunistic since the bicycle gives you the opportunity to cheat traffic? Are you “expressing yourself” with your nonchalant coolness, hipness, whatever? Or, do you just not know any better? Do you just follow the example of the guy/gal in front of you because you’re new to urban bicycling? (I think it’s the latter.)Jeff's statement breaks the possible reasons for this behavior down into two extrem…